


unexpected

by auficial



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, Maid Cafe, yeap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-19 23:25:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2406734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auficial/pseuds/auficial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one time Kuroko Tetsuya decided to act on a whim, it succeeded beyond his expectations and made him realize that he cared for others more than he even knew.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><br/>"Where else would your dead pan voice and matter of fact personality get any likes, hey?" the boss nudged him in the ribs with a slight smile on his face.</p>
  <p>"Thank you," Kuroko replied drily.</p>
  <p>"No problem," he cheekily replied, "I definitely saved some poor company out there from hiring you."</p>
</blockquote>
            </blockquote>





	unexpected

It would be a lie for Kuroko Tetsuya to confess that he, like a typical protagonist in a series, did not know how exactly he ended up in this situation.  
  
Now, Kuroko was prone to many things, of which some baffled a good number of people who were well acquainted with him but lying was not at all one of them. He suspected no amount of lying would justify his current situation, although telling the truth was only marginally better. In all honesty, it was about the money but more importantly, it was about luck. Just by pure coincidence, the moment he was considering working, he spotted the flier hastily taped to a lamp post. He had stopped before he could think about it and after classes, he turned up to the location the flier specified.  
  
Funnily enough, it was the first time he was in a maid cafe and he wasn't even there as a patron.  
  
One of the maids took him to the back room where a man with even worse bed head than Kuroko was lounging in a chair, looking over some documents. "He saw your flier, boss," the maid informed before bowing and going back to the front. Kuroko walked into the room, letting the door fall shut behind and stood in front of the boss. The man was on the tall side and the shape of his body hinted at regular sessions of exercise. What was truly impressive was the carefree smirk on his face, leering and appraising Kuroko all at once.  
  
"So, what is it?" the man drawled, leaning forward as he bared teeth, "A dare or a secret fetish?"  
  
"Money," Kuroko replied evenly, "your flier assured that the pay would be good, if not decent."  
  
This draw a laugh from the man and it was all pure enjoyment. When it finally died down, the smirk was gone and in its place was a lopsided grin, which Kuroko actually preferred. "Well, don't think you're special. There are quite a few here for that reason but I keep hoping someone would confess it's something else." The sigh that followed was mostly melodrama and entirely fake, eliciting a snort from Kuroko, making the man smile. "You can start work tomorrow. Just come when you're free, we'll discuss your working hours, contract and all the formalities after one week of working. It's too much trouble to go through if you're going to chicken out on the second day."  
  
Kuroko spoke an affirmative and let the room, bowing. When he left the shop, he took a last look at it, marvelling at how perfectly normal it looked from the outside.  
  
Appearances can be deceiving, after all- that much he was sure of.  
  
  
  
  
  
After nineteen years of existence, Kuroko never imagined that the act of dressing itself could come as a surprise. To be more accurate, it was the articles of clothing that was the source of surprise. One of the part-timers was with him, a fellow college student that was in the job for the same reason as Kuroko. He introduced himself as Eren Jaeger and was pretty at ease despite the fact he was currently wearing a maid uniform. "I'm of mixed heritage, in case you were wondering" he smiled friendly at Kuroko, as he took out several packages out of one of the drawers. "You'll be given at least three sets when you start out and you just have to toss the used one in the laundry basket in your locker and you will find it there, washed, after two days. Since you're on your trial period, you get one and the boss will tell whoever who does the laundry to wash it until the day."  
  
"I see," Kuroko murmured and picked up various articles that Eren took out from the packaging, sending an unspoken plea of help to Eren. The boy laughed easily, explaining to Kuroko how to put on each article of clothing- at one point, slightly embarrassed, pulled up his own petticoat to show the way the garters were supposed to hold up the stockings.  
  
At last, he thanked Eren for his help and as the door clicked close, he started to dress himself.  
  
The most frightening thing was how quickly he accustomed himself to the previously foreign clothing. Unlike many of his peers, Kuroko found it hard to dredge up feelings of embarrassment and shame because he felt like it just simply wasn't something to lose your wits over. Besides, the uniform was of very good quality, the stockings and petticoat were comfortable, the dress of a thick, sturdy but pretty material and the white apron actually looked functional instead of just for decoration. The rest of the outfit made putting on the headdress and wrist adornments bearable. All in all, his collarbones and arms were left prettily bare and coupled with his legs, enticingly encased in fishnets, he made for a pretty picture indeed.  
  
The boss was waiting outside of the door and he smiled when Kuroko came out. Kuroko himself was slightly shocked that the expression the man had on was not one of perverseness but overt and approving appraisal. "Don't give me that look," the man slipped out easily with one of his smirks, "I'm not the one with the secret fetish but I knew you would look good in a maid uniform."  
  
"Thank you for your kind praise," Kuroko intoned very drily, earning a bark of laughter in return.  
  
"See!" the boss lips curled in a smug expression, "I just knew you were fit for the job. Just keep that up with every customer. So basically, you're just a waiter with a maid uniform on. Do whatever you want, I don't have a preference."  
  
Kuroko waited for a moment, to be polite but also to hope that the boss had more to offer than that. "That's it?" he asked, with a note of incredulity in this voice.  
  
"That's it," the boss confirmed, his smirk teasing, "It's more fun to see what people come up with. Some waiters don't care, treating it like a normal establishment whereas some go all out. Who am I to do anything about that but sit back and enjoy the show?"  
  
With a final wave, the boss was gone and on his way back to the office. Kuroko let out an exhale loudly and went to the front.  
  
  
  
  
  
The week passed by before he could pause to think about it and Kuroko found that the job was tolerable. He didn't exactly like it but he didn't dislike it either. For one, the customers were mostly polite and there were a surprising number of men who came to torment the workers in an entirely friendly way. A few of his coworkers had been working for a while, so their friends would come over solely to tease and laugh at them. They took it in stride, laughter and promising death threats after work. Frankly, Kuroko didn't expect to enjoy himself so thoroughly.  
  
He knocked on the door, meeting the boss's stare evenly.  
  
Predictably, the smirk was commonplace on the boss's face and he drawled, "Kuroko-kun, ready to sign your life away?"  
  
"Yes, indeed," Kuroko replied and they shared an amused smile.  
  
As Kuroko changed out of his uniform much later, adding two more to his locker, he felt strangely exhilarated. He often wasn't one to give into his impulses, which made doing so every now and then all the more gratifying. There was no doubt he was actually looking forward to working.  
  
  
  
  
  
In this sort of business, it was more important to get regulars than anything; frequent customers that would continue to spend their money on you. To Kuroko's surprise, he earned a regular within his first week and it came in the form of popular model Kise Ryouta. The man had his face plastered all over subway stations and on billboards. The maid cafe was abuzz when he walked through the front doors but Kuroko recovered quickly, bowing slightly and ushering him to a seat. Kise looked unimpressed by the whole affair, an underwhelmed expression to his admittedly handsome face .  
  
That was until a glass of water and the cake he ordered seemingly materialised out of nowhere, causing Kise to jump having not noticed Kuroko's hands. "Here is your food," Kuroko moved into Kise's line of sight and bowed again.  
  
"Wait, how did you do that?" Kise gushed, eyes alight and sparkling.  
  
Kuroko refrained from smiling at the sudden change in Kise's expression and tone, calmly explaining, "I was merely in your blind spot, Kise-san, it's not that difficult to do." During that first visit, Kise kept on ordering things such as extra sugar and another glass of water just to see them appear out of nowhere. Kuroko was tired after the second packet of extra sugar despite the full container on Kise's table but he obliged and concluded that despite Kise's aesthetics, he was a truly tiring man.  
  
Kise left much later, truly enamoured by Kuroko's strange disappearing ability and most definitely an avid fan of it.  
  
In time, Kuroko came to enjoy his visits. Kise was friendly, often blabbering about his job and tipped well enough for Kuroko's services. Privately, Kuroko remarked that Kise was very much like a child, oddly fascinated by a simply ability born out of a low presence and observational skills. Then one day, Kise imitated Eren in front of his eyes and Kuroko paused, knowing it was Kise but he could feel Eren from the man. "I'm good at copying others," Kise smirked playfully, "but for some reason, I can't copy you."  
  
"That's because everyone's eyes are on you, Kise-san," Kuroko replied drily.  
  
"Including yours, Kurokocchi?" Kise murmured, expression smothering and that was the moment that Kuroko realized he gave Kise too little credit after all.  
  
"Yes, including mine," he conceded, "only because I know you will wave me over just to get you another sugar packet."  
  
He departed to Kise's laughter and Kise kept coming back for more after that, as though he could never get enough of Kuroko.  
  
  
  
  
  
Murasakibara Atsushi was a regular of the shop first and he typically didn't care for who served him because everyone knew he had an open love affair with the cakes the shop sold. He barely flickered a glance at the maids, too busy eyeing the cakes in the display and contemplating his choice. Kuroko happened to be the most free out of the four maids in the shop that day, so he went over to Murasakibara's table, ignoring Kise's fervent waves. "What would you like?" he asked, notepad ready and poised.  
  
"Hmmmmmmmm. I would like everything," Murakibara drawled, facial expression contemplative.  
  
"That can be arranged," Kuroko complied and Murasakibara blinked at him. The other maids often didn't take him seriously enough, explaining to him that they couldn't because that would greatly deplete the cake supply and that it was bad for him to eat so much cake. Not having the energy to argue with them, Murasakibara would eventually make a selection of three to four cakes.  
  
"Really?" Murasakibara was excited, widened eyes and just a bit of drool at the corner of his mouth.  
  
"I'll have to discuss it with the boss but I'm sure it can be arranged," Kuroko assured calmly, going to the backroom to find the boss.  
  
(It basically involved Kuroko presenting his argument on how it half-sized portion cakes should be in the menu to accommodate customers like Murasakibara but also customers like Kise who were watching their diet. He mentioned how they could be making more money at the same time while catering to the explicit needs and desires of certain groups of people. The boss's smirk grew throughout Kuroko's talk and at the end, he merely said, "I'm expecting great things from you, Kuroko.")  
  
A few minutes later, Murasakibara had half a slice of each of the ten cakes available in front of him and he had his fists clenched in excitement in front of him, hand slightly trembling in the anticipation of eating them. Kuroko watched him in amusement, feeling warmed by the fact that he was witnessing someone going in esctacy over baked products.  
  
"Kuro-chin," Murasakibara called between munches of cake, "next time, only you serve me, okay?"  
  
"Gladly," Kuroko bowed and went off to get Kise whatever it was he wanted now.  
  
  
  
  
The moment the man walked in, Kuroko wondered if it was a dare that brought him here. It wasn't uncommon that they had people dared to go into the cafe and they even had people dared to work at the cafe. Midorima Shintarou hovered uncomfortably at the counter and it was clear to anyone that he was too nervous about the whole affair. "Welcome," Kuroko greeted with a small bow. "Table for one?"  
  
"Yes," he managed and was led to a small table in the corner.  
  
"What would you like to start with?" Kuroko asked, "Water? Or would you like to take a look at the menu first before choosing?"  
  
"Warm water," he mumbled, eyes on the fanciful, colourful menu. Kuroko went to fetch the water, smiling slightly at the way Murasakibara was so obviously relishing his food again. The cafe was quiet that day and there were barely ten customers for the three maids on duty, which allowed Kuroko to join Midorima on his table impulsively.  
  
"We don't usually offer this service," he offered a faint smile to Midorima, "but it's a slow day. You don't seem like someone who would visit such an establishment."  
  
"I thought it was just another cafe and since it was close to my workplace, I might as well grab a bite here. Maybe I should have left when I entered it," Midorima fretted, resting a hand on his forehead.  
  
"I never thought I would be working in one, either," Kuroko confessed softly, noting the way Midorima's eyes found his. "The food is good, at the very least, and we're just dressed in maid outfits so that we stand out slightly from being any other cafe. I haven't met anyone who actually comes here to really enjoy the view yet. In other words, we're just a cafe with a specialised uniform."  
  
He left to get Midorima's order and after presenting Murasakibara with his bill, spent the rest of his time chatting to Midorima. He offered companionship to a doctor that didn't really get along that well with his coworkers, save for one nurse that wouldn't leave him alone.  
  
"Is it okay if I were to request you the next time I come?" Midorima asked nervously as Kuroko handed him the bill.  
  
"Unless I have a lot of requests that day, I would be happy to oblige," Kuroko replied and afterwards, Midorima left a pretty big tip in his tip jar.  
  
They ended up being friends of some sort, people brought together by an unlikely cafe.  
  
  
  
  
  
The cafe was approaching its closing time when Aomine Daiki strolled in brazenly, seating himself at a table by himself. Kuroko brought Midorima his usual order and was just about to sit with him but he looked at the other two maids, one of which who was being tormented by his senior and another one who was dealing with a customer than needed all his attention, and sighed. Striding over to Aomine, he placed the menu on the table and waited.  
  
"I want something really unhealthy and filling. Something that makes you feel alive," Aomine groaned hard and long with just a hint of a plea underlying beneath it.  
  
"I'll see what I can do," Kuroko mumbled, retrieving the menu. He sent an order for a special that the head chef decided to make for Kuroko one day when Kuroko turned up exhausted from his tests that somehow ended up one after the other. It was an omelette rice filled with all sorts of things like meat and chocolate chips. The strange combination of ingredients should be disgusting but was heavenly instead. The boss had snorted at it, banning it from the menu because of cost of the dish.  
  
It was that very same dish that Kuroko laid in front of Aomine. "It's going to cost you," he warned before he placed the order and Aomine merely bared his teeth in a devious smile and declared that he could afford it. Aomine ordered a second round when he was done with the first and by then, all the other patrons were long gone and the other two were cleaning up. Kuroko sat opposite Aomine, watching him chew happily as though he hasn't eaten for days.  
  
Aomine swallowed. "What's your name?"  
  
"Kuroko," he answered in a dead pan voice, pointing at his name tag. The other man rolled his eyes, swallowing again.  
  
"I mean your first name."  
  
"Tetsuya," Kuroko found himself replying.  
  
"Well, Tetsu," Aomine grinned childishly, "I will need the bill. And don't think I won't come back. My name is Aomine."  
  
"Yes, Aomine-san," Kuroko went to get the bill and watched as Aomine not only paid more than he needed to, he left Kuroko with a big tip as well.  
  
  
  
  
  
Kuroko was in the storeroom when the boss whistled next to him, staring at the front. "A big one's turned up, Kuroko," he laughed gleefully, "you better take this one because I'm sure the others can't handle him." Kuroko stared at his boss strangely but he was already walking away, mumbling something along the lines of "can't believe he actually turned up". "The red head, Kuroko," the boss called behind him as he retreated into the backroom.  
  
He ignored the way Aomine pointed at him, smiling slightly at the way his companion chided, "Dai-chan, it's rude to point, what's wrong with you".   
  
"I'll take this one," he mumbled to Kageyama, who was trying to appear polite like he should. Kageyama was working there because of a dare and he often had trouble with everyone who wasn't someone he knew. The boss hired him because apparently he knew Kageyama from before and he thought it would be hilarious for him to deal with customers. (It often was.) There was an audible sigh of relief before Kuroko found himself facing someone slightly taller than him but with a magnetic presence and charisma that went beyond that.  
  
"Table for one?" Kuroko asked and at the slight inclination of the man's head, led him to a small table.  
  
Kuroko started off his usual but the man stopped him with, "I'll call you back when I have decided. But tell me, what is the point of such an establishment?"  
  
"It depends," Kuroko said after a pause, "I guess there are other such maid cafes around that cater to people's whims and it's not that we don't do the same but I guess we don't offer fantasy. We just try to have a place where people can comfortably have a meal and we just to suit each visit to what they need. Is that good enough for you?"  
  
"Yes," the man looked pleased. "I'll have set B."  
  
After the man left and they closed up for the day, the two other maids remarked that Kuroko handled the situation very well and that they would themselves would have been flustered if they had to serve him. Anyhow, he must have done something right because the man kept up his weekly visits, questioning Kuroko about his opinion of maid cafes and the workers. Each time, he left a tip that was five times the cost of the meal and big money for a part-timer. The boss whistled when he saw it but didn't comment otherwise.  
  
  
  
  
  
These five had the strongest impression in Kuroko's head but he found that he enjoyed the job and had come to like it after months of working there. The boss was pleased about the development, which Kuroko could tell by how he grinned rather than smirked all the time. "Why did you sent this up?" he asked the boss once.  
  
"Why?" the boss laughed, "my friend was into games, manga and the like. He also had a secret desire to see someone dressed in a maid uniform. Eventually they worked it out but I thought it would be fun to have a place that was more natural and not all fake smiles and whatever."  
  
"Huh," Kuroko mumbled and the boss gave him a genuine smile.  
  
"Where else would your dead pan voice and matter of fact personality get any likes, hey?" the boss nudged him in the ribs with a slight smile on his face.  
  
"Thank you," Kuroko replied drily.  
  
"No problem," he cheekily replied, "I definitely saved some poor company out there from hiring you."  
  
Kuroko didn't hold back the jab to the ribs and his boss crumbled, moaning in pain. He walked away, ignoring the half-hearted threats about firing him and going to find the two colleges that were good friends of his now. At the start, he wanted to do something in his youth that he would never have done and Kuroko supposed he found it in this maid cafe. He had even gone so far to openly admit he was an employee here and his best friend fought the people who made fun of him. His life seemed pretty good at the moment, as though nothing could make it better and Kuroko never thought that he would reach this point in his life.  
  
He listened to the idle threats that his boss was making, glad he started working in the maid cafe after all.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Written because I was kinda upset that 'Temptation' is pretty much my most popular fic, so I wrote this and decided to get over it, hahaha. (See[ this](http://hho-hhe.tumblr.com/post/91929108388/when-someone-unfollows-me-i-take-it-very)\- relevant.) 
> 
> 2\. Shout outs to:  
> I want to say I don't have any shout outs but I guess to the original series and the cute photograph they took in the end.  
> Also to Kuroko and the GOM because you can tell that in the Free! style, Kuroko saved each and every single one of them, just as much as they saved him. (This fic was a joke but maybe you can see elements of that.)
> 
> 3\. One of the things Kuroko is prone to is substituting vanilla milk shakes for his meals, which baffles quite a lot of people, mostly Kagami. 
> 
> 4\. I thought really hard about who should be the boss for the cafe. (I even considered Hanji from Snk, lol.) 
> 
> 5\. The boss is perfect in this fic, okay, the moment I thought of him, I was all "YES, THIS IS IT". 
> 
> 6\. For some reason, the best word to describe my idea of Kise would be "two-faced". (I was initially going to make them all romantically inclined but it stopped at Kise's.)
> 
> 7\. Murasakibara's family owns a traditional sweet shop but he is rebelling against them, declaring that he loves ALL sweet things. (Himuro is his childhood friend/secretary trying to make him come to his senses...) 
> 
> 8\. I think among the Gom, Midorima and Kuroko have the most in common, I think.
> 
> 9\. Aomine is a pro-player that's tired of the strict diet control. 
> 
> 10\. Also, nutella and egg make for a pretty good combination in a hot dog bun! 
> 
> 11\. The reason why Akashi's name isn't included is mostly because I choose to not include it because I felt it was right (HAHA) but on hindsight, it would be because Akashi doesn't feel obliged to share his name, which is why Kuroko doesn't know it. 
> 
> 12\. You know, writing these fics are fun and all but at the end of it, I suddenly realize that there was actually something more to it than I originally expected, which is always fun. 
> 
> 13\. Kuroko was the somewhat lost college student looking to find something new in his life and something that made his life exciting again. 
> 
> 14\. Along the way, he charmed Kise and provided him with a childish fascination and admiration with something and someone (like in the original series).
> 
> 15\. He was able to ultimately provide Murasakibara with what he was looking for- a bit like in the original series where Kuroko ultimately got Murasakibara serious. (Related but I can't quite explain it.) 
> 
> 16\. Companionship was what he gave to Midorima and they were always the two most complementary in the Gom, I feel. (The two of them were the first equal-standing rivals, I think.) 
> 
> 17\. It's funny to me that what Kuroko gives to Aomine is material, like the defeat in the series (points wise). (In both situations, of course, there was so much more than Kuroko gave to Aomine) 
> 
> 18\. Hmm. To me, Kuroko offered his thoughts to Akashi, which was enough for him. (In the series, of course, Akashi needed to be defeated for it to be accepted. I think what I meant to say is their exchange is ideological based.)
> 
> 19\. Hopefully, there's a sense of what I was sort of trying to get across (from 13 to 18) in this fic itself. 
> 
> 20\. Oh, right, yes, Kageyama and Eren because they were the first people I could think of whom I had someone in mind that I wanted to use to torment these two. 
> 
> 21\. For Kageyama, it's mostly Oikawa but also Karasuno and for Eren, it's this business man called Levi who terrifies the poor boy. 
> 
> 22\. The boss is Kuroo Tetsuro! 
> 
> 23\. The friend that Kuroo was mentioning is Kenma, who wanted to see Hinata in a maid uniform, heh. 
> 
> 24\. I have been wanting to put Kuroo Tetsuro and Kuroko Tetsuya in the same fic because I felt like their names sounded similar. (The kanji is probably very different!) They're bed head buddies. 
> 
> 25\. Continuing from 1, I wrote this partly to see if it will do as well as Temptation but also to check out whether maybe people generally like Gom stuff or something. I guess it was a gamble between the subject matter of my fics, my writing ability, ships and pairings, which of these is/are the one(s) that get to people and maybe making a conclusion from it. (In other words, just because Temptation is popular might not necessarily mean it's highly valued to someone and stuff. I guess I wrote this to find out more about my feelings towards popularity and etc etc. RAMBLING.)


End file.
